Method of filling shoes



March 7, 1933.

A. THOMA METHOD OF FILLING SHOES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 20, 1951 Anflfew Thoma an m March 7, 1933. A. THOMA METHOD OF FILLING SHOES :5 Sheets-Sheet' 2 Filed Feb. 20, 1951 Ma Q March A. THOMA 1,900,317

METHOD OF FILLING SHOES Filed Feb. 20, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 l /e im AndgyzT/zoma Patented Mar. 7, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT orFicE.

ANDREW THOMA, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO NORTH AMERICAN CHEMICAL COMPANY, OFCAIVIBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF. MASSA- CHUSETTS Application filed February 20, 1931.

This invention consists in a new method or process of filling the bottom cav1t1es of shoes.

In its more complete exemplification, and

particularly when applied to welt shoes, the

process includes also the flattening and come In laying and spreading plastic shoe bot-.

tom filler in the bottom cavities of shoes it has heretofore been the practice, in the case of bulk filler, to dip or scoop a quantity of filler, suitable for a single shoe cavity, by means of a hot spreading knife or spatula out of a larger mass or bulk of filler, usually pre-. viously softened and conditioned for spreading. The operator would then deposit the segregated quantity of filler in the shoe bottom cavity and spread it within the cavity by means of the spatula in much the same manner as a mason lays and spreads mortar with a trowel. also finally smoothed by passing a roller back and forth over its surface. In laying or spreading individual, leaf-like pieces of plastic filler material, which have recently come on the market, the operator would place a filler piece in the shoe bottom cavity and then in spreading the same follow a similar procedure to that used in spreading bulk filler, namely, to spread the pre-conditioned filler piece throughout the. cavity by means of a hot spatula and/or by passing a rollerback and forth over the filler surface.

With the method of spreading and pressing theiiller according to the present invention, powerful pressure is applied by the surface of a press substantially flatwise of the shoe cavity, and at substantially one and the same time over the whole area of the cavity, the filler and the rest of the shoe bottom under treatment, and ma direction substantially normal or perpendicular to the shoe bottom. Simultaneously with .saidspr'eading and pressing operation, the filler layer,v

and indeed the entire surface of the shoe bottom, may be subjected to a vibratory motion of the press surface, preferably a twisting or back and forth motion of partial rotation in a plane transverse, to the direction of Usually the filler layer was Ment on orrinmne SHOES Serial No. 517,236.

pressure and substantially coincidentwith the plane of the work. Such vibratory or back and forth movement of the press upon the filler and shoe bottom during the spreading and pressing operation facilitates the proper spreading and distribution of the filler throughout the cavity and into all its irregularities and crevices, aids in compacting and condensing the filler layer, and, in the case of a welt shoe, aids in flattening, compressing and condensing the welt seam, and leveling or evening it down to the plane of the filler and the welt itself. During the same pressing operation the welt is also leveled or evened up and set in the plane of the rest of the shoe bottom.

The plastic filler usedin my'new method, whether in bulk form or piece form, is preferably of the kind which requires softening or conditioning for spreading, as by heat, and therefore the application of heat to the filler during the spreading and pressing op eration is included in the invention. The filler may also be of the kind whose compo-- sition requires heat to effect a chemical or physical reaction at the time of laying. For example, it may contain starch paste; when such 'filler is spread under the influence of heat, the heat takes out water and sets the paste. Or, it may be a filler in which the binder is present in dispersed condition; when such filler is spread under the influence of heat, the heat evaporates the dispersing agent and starts the coagulation of the binder." Other known types of filler are beneficially spread in the presence of heat. Although there are important advantages in using a heat-plastic or heat-responsive filler and in applying heat at the very time of and during the spreading and pressing of the filler, theinvention in its broader aspects is not limited to this particular feature but is in-v tended broadly to cover the method even though the filler is pre-heated or pre-conditioned before being placed in the machine, or is of a kind which can be spread cold without pre-conditioning.

The practice of theprocess is not dependent onthe use of any particular machine, but 7 may be carried out by various. forms of machine. A machine well adapted for the purpose is described in the application of Alfred H. Avery for patent Serial No. 517,237, filed February 20, 1931, and I will therefore use that machine for the purpose of illustration without, however, intending in any way to limit my process to that or any other particular machine.

Other machines suitable for performing certain of the functions of the invention are illustrated in application of Alfred H. Avery for patent Serial No. 181,129, filed September 11, 1930 and Serial No. 516,862, filed February 19, 1931.

In the accompanying drawings, only such parts of the machine of said application Serial No. 517,237 are shown and described as are necessary to an understanding of the method constituting the subject matter of the present application.

Fig. 1 is a side view of the machine showing the press in operative position closed upon a shoe;

Fig. 2 is a side view, partly in section, showing the press in open or inoperative position with a shoe in position before being operated upon;

Fig. 3 is a cross section through the forepart of a shoe, on its last, with the welt attached ready to receive the filler;

Fi l is a similar cross section showin b .L p

an unspread quantity of filler deposited in the shoe bottom cavity, and the welt resting on the welt support;

Fig. 5 1s a similar cross sect1on showing the result at the completion of the spreadlng and pressing operation.

F or convenience, the same reference numerals w1ll be used as for corresponding parts in said applications Serial No. 517,237

and Serial No. 516,862.

Mounted on the front of the machine frame is a pressing and spreading pad, indicated generally at 20, which has a smooth,

generally flat press surface 58 on its under side. The pad 20 is preferably constructed as described in detail in said applications Serial No. 517,237 and Serial No. 516,862 to provide a hot, flexible and slightly yielding press surface, which is normally slightly bowed or convex.

Below the pad 20 is a swinging frame 76, journaled on the machine frame at 77 The swinging frame carries the shoe supports consisting of a toe rest 101, and a pair of welt supporting plates 45. lVhen the swinging frame 76 is swung upwardly, by mechanism described in said application Serial No. 517,237, with ashoe S carrying a quantity of unspread filler in its bottom cavity mounted in position on the shoe supports, the filler and the entire shoe bottom are forcibly pressed against the hot press surface of pad 20, whose area is sufficiently extensive to cover the en tire area of the shoe bottom to be operated upon. The pressure exerted by the press surface of pad 20 is thus applied substantially fiatwise of the shoe bottom at substantially the same time over the whole area of the work and in a direction substantially normal or perpendicular to the shoe bottom,

ith the result hat not only is the filler spread and distributed throughout the cavity, and simultaneously heated if a heatplastic filler is used, but the peripheral walls of the cavity (the welt seam) are crushed down, flattened and pressed along with the filler layer, and the welt Wis pressed and set in its leveled position.

The pad 20 is fixed to the lower end of a stem or spindle 68 journaled on a vertical axis on the machine frame. Fixed to the upper end of the stem 68 is a laterally ex tending crank arm 70, which is connected by a pitman71 to an eccentric 72 fast on shaft 73. When the machine is in operation this mechanism oscillates or vibrates pad 20 on its vertical axis, thereby imparting to the working face or press surface of the pad a vibration or back and forth movement of partial rotation in plane transverse to the direction of pressure and substantially coincident with the plane of the shoe bottom surface, during the spreading and pressing operation.

For a more complete and detailed description of the machine used for illustrating the arocess, reference is made to said applications Serial No. 517,237 and Serial No. 516,862. But as the present invention consists in the process or method and not in the machine, and as the method may be performed by other machines, the foregoing description will suflicientl explain the action of the principal mechanical factors recommended for practicing the method.

In carrying out the method on a welt shoe the operator deposits in the shoe bottom cavity, which is defined by the welt seam 7V around the forepart of the shoe, a quantity of spreadable filler suitable when spread for filling the cavity. The filler used may be either in bulk form or in piece form. ln either case the unit of filler deposited in the cavity will differ in shape from the shape of the cavity, being somewhat thicker than the depth of the cavity and smaller than the area of the cavity. in Figs. 2 and 1 a lump of bulk filler is shown at F.

The operator then shoves the shoe S, still on its last L and carrying the unspread filler F in its bottom cavity, toe foremost into the machine with its forepart resting on the toe rest 101 and its welt resting on the welt supporting'plates 45, 45.

A welt, when first attached to a shoe, is usually not flat and level with the shoe bottom but somewhat uneven and inclined toward the upper as illustrated at V7 in Fig. 3. When the shoe is placed in positionwith the 20. The pressure is applied by the hot press surface substantially flatwise of the shoe bottom at substantially the same time over the whole area of the cavity, the filler, the welt seam and the welt, and in a direction sub stantially perpendicular or normal to the shoe bottom. Simultaneously with the pressing and spreading operation the press surface is given a vibratory or back and forth motion of partial rotation, as by the mechanism more fully described in the said application Serial' No. 517,237, which facilitates the complete spreading and distribution of the filler within the cavity and the compacting of the ultimate filler layer under the direct pressure. At the same time the press surface of the hot pad 20, whichextends over the whole area of the shoe bottom, crushes down, flattens and compresses the welt seam, and presses and sets the welt itself in its proper fiat position, level with the rest of the shoe bottom.

In filling McKay shoes, or other shoes which have no welt, substantially the same method is followed, excepting that the welt supports are not used and the flatwise pressure does not flatten a welt, but does press the inturned margin of the upper, which defines the shoe bottom cavity of a McKay shoe, along with the filler layer.

The flexible surface of pad 20 conforms to theshape of the shoe bottom and when it engages the welt scam in a welt shoe or the inturned margin of the upper in a McKay shoe, it forms a barrier which prevents overflow of the filler beyond the walls of the cavity and confines the spreading of the filler within the cavity. Any excess or surplus filler will be extruded rearwardly toward the shank of the shoe and may be readily scraped or knocked off.

In the filling of shoes by hand, as heretofore practiced, there was no substantial or effective variation in the pressure applied to different shoes; and as that pressure was applied merely by the hand of the operator it was a comparatively light pressure and amounted to little more than a hand smoothoperation. The bestshoemaking calls for more powerful pressure and for different degrees of pressure for'different types of shoes. The present method not only provides the requisite degree of pressure properly to spread, compact and condense the filler layer, but also provides for applying diiferent degrees of pressure 'to difierent shoes, since the ultimate or maximum pres-' sure exerted between the presser pad 20 and the shoe bottom depends on the spring 84', whose, tension may be adjusted as described in said application Serial No. 517,237. Thus the present method comprises further a single pressure, of the kind already described, which progressively increases up to the desired predetermined maximum suitable for the particular work in hand.

Again, in filling welt shoes by the old hand method it was difficult if not impossible to force the wax tailings, or other waterproof binder used in the filler to flow into and through the stitch holes and stitches which extend through the weltseam uniting the welt, upper and lip. With the present meth- 0d the forcible lateral spreading of the filler under powerful pressure, aided by heat which liquefies or softens the binder, drives .the binder into the stitch holes and stitches of the welt seam and so greatly improves the waterproof qualities of the shoe.

I claim:

1. The method of filling shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity of a shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, and spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by powerful pressure applied substantially flatwise by a press acting directly on the filler and at substantially the same time over the whole area of the cavity and in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom.

2. The method of filling shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity of a shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but I differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compresing the same by powerful pressure appliedsubstantially flatwise by apress surface at substantially the same time'over the whole area of the cavity and in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom, and simultaneously subjecting the work to a vibratory motion of the press surface in a plane transverse to the direction of pressure.

3. The method of filling shoes which co1nprises depositing in the bottom cavity of a shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by powerful pressure applied substantially flatwi-se by a press surface at substanthe cavity and in a direction substantially ice tially thesame time over the whole area of ously subjecting the work to a vibratory motion of partial rotation of the press surface in a plane transverse to the direction of pressure.

4. The method of filling shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity of a shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by powerful pressure applied substantially flatwise by a press acting directly on the filler and at substantially the same time over the whole area of the cavity and in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom, and applying heat to filler during the spreading and pressing operation.

5. The method of filling shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity of a shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by powerful pressure applied substantially flatwise by a press surface at substantially the same time over the whole area of the cavity and in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom, and simultaneously subjecting the work to a vibratory motion of the press surface in a plane transverse to the direction of pressure, and apply ing heat to the filler during the spreading and pressing operation.

6. The method of filling welt shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity defined by the welt seam a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by powerful pressure applied. substantially fiatwise of the cavity by a press acting directly on the filler and in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom, and at the same time flattening the welt seam by pressure. 7

'Z. The method of filling welt shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity defined by the welt seam a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by powerful pressure applied substantially fiatwise of the cavity by a press acting directly on the filler and in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom, and at the same time flattening the welt seam by pressure and leveling the welt.

8. The method of filling welt shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity defined by the welt seam a quantity of spreadable shoe filler. suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by powerful pressure applied substantially flatwise of the cavity by a press surface in a direction substantially normal to the shot bottom, and at the same time flattening the welt seam by pressure and simultaneously subjecting both the filler and the welt seam to a vibratory motion of the press surface in a plane transverse to the direction of pressure.

9, The method of filling welt shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity defined by the welt seam a quantity of spread-v able shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by powerful pressure applied substantially flatwise of the cavity by a press surface in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom, and at the same time flattening the welt seam by pressure and simultaneously subjecting both the filler and the welt seam to a vibratory motion of partial rotation of the press surface in a plane transverse to the direction of pressure.

10. The method of filling welt shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity do fined by the welt seam a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compresslngthe same by powerful pressure applied substantially fiatwise of the cavity by a press surface in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom and at the same time flattening the welt seam by pressure, and simultaneously subjecting both the filler and the welt seam to a vibratory motion of the press surface in a plane transverse to the direction of pressure and applying heat to the filler and welt seam during the spreading and pressing operation.

11. The method of filling welt shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity defined by the welt seam a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the'cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and conipres 'ing the same by powerful pressure applied substantially fiatwise of the cavity by a press acting directly on the filler and in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom, and at the same time flattening the welt scam by pressure, and applying heat to the filler and welt seam during the spreading and pressing operation.

12. The method of filling shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity of-a shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler,

suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape o-fthe prises depositing in the bottom cavity of a shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but di'flering in shape from the shape of the cavity, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by powerful pressure applied substantially fiatwise by a press acting directly on the filler and at substantially the same time over the whole area of the shoe bottom and in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom, and engaging the press surface with the top of the walls of the cavity to prevent overflow of the filler beyond the walls of the cavity during said spreading and pressing operation.

14. The method of filling shoes which com- I prises depositing in the bottom cavity of a shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, and spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity .and compressing the same by a single stroke of pressure applied by a press acting directly on the filler and substantially fiatwise and of progressively increasing power up to a predetermined maximum.

15. The method of filling a welt shoe 17 The method of filling shoes which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity of a shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler, suitable when spread for filling the cavity but differing in shape from the shape of the cavity, and causing it to flow laterally in all. di-

rections to the confines of the-cavity by sub jecting it to substantially fiatwise pressure applied over the whole area of the cavity at substantially the same time and in a direction substantially normal to the shoe bottom, simultaneously subjecting the filler to heat, and engaging the press surface with the top of the walls of the cavity to prevent overflow of the filler beyond the walls of the cavity during the pressing operation.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts,

this 18th day of February, 1931.

ANDREW THOMA.

which comprises depositing in the bottom 7 cavity of the shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler containing a binder capable of flowing under pressure, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by pressure applied by a press acting directly on the filler and substantially fiatwise, and simultaneously foreing the binder to flow under the pressure from the cavity into the stitch holes of the welt seam.

16. The method of filling a welt shoe which comprises depositing in the bottom cavity of the shoe a quantity of spreadable shoe filler containing a binder capable of.

flowing under pressure, spreading the filler laterally to the confines of the cavity and compressing the same by pressure applied by a press acting directly on the filler and substantially fiatwise, and simultaneously applying heat to the filler to render the binder more fluid and forcing the fluid binder to flow under the pressure from the cavity into the stitch holes of the welt seam. 

